Zombies, Run
by Knifeinthedarkness
Summary: A story of my runner 5 from Mullins base to where ever she may end up. It may have behind scenes (in between runs).
1. Mullins Base

Mullins Base

My name is… well my name doesn't matter, it's not like anyone will remember it. The day was normal... well as normal as it can be during the Zombie apocalypse. However, the day doesn't end the normal military way with a freezing sponge for a shower, mushy bake beans for dinner, and a scratchy blanket that gives you mild warmth but a rash on any exposed skin. Another freezing and dreary day somewhere in England, I spend my times transporting paper between labs. It's not like I work on ground breaking research on the cure, just a job I was assigned with upon the outbreak. My life was nothing special, and therefore I won't go into details about it.

"Soldier 93486 report to the chopper immediately, repeat soldier 93486 report to the chopper immediately." The intercom system crackled to life, calling me to the too the air field. I walk towards the air field from the science lab, when I hear foot steps behind me.  
"So you are the poor bastard that has to go help another township? Sucks to be you." Soldier 92964, or in other words Lachlan Trimal.  
"Yeah, what of it? It won't be that bad, it won't be for long." I replied, annoyed to the fact that I am being sent away from the Mullins base, into a back water little township. "I have no idea what I am going to be doing, I'll know once I get into the township."  
"Ahhh it won't be so bad, I head out to Brunswick next week. The guys that I head out to don't even have a decent fence. At Least Able Township has stone walls around them." Lachlan slings an arm around my shoulders as we walk towards the helicopter.

As we get closer we see my pilot checking over the chopper, checking the cargo with a frown. "That's never a good sign, a pilot frowning over cargo." Lachlan mused.  
"Its most likely due to the fact that even we are running low on medical supplies, and that is one of the things that we are meant to be taking into Able Township." I grimace and walk to the chopper leaving Lachlan behind with a wave of my hand.  
"Ready to go?" Taylor asked gesturing to the chopper.  
"Let's get this over with."


	2. Jolly Alpha Five Niner

Jolly Alpha Five Niner

The sounds of the helicopter blades were giving me a headache, along with the bumpy flight and reading on the move. That's what I was doing as Taylor played with the controls, reading the supply list for the township. I wasn't wrong about being short on supplies, the helicopter was near empty, unlike they usually are. Taylor breaks my train of thought as Abel comes into view.

"Abel Township is just on the horizon, see it now. Just a few fences to keep the zoms out, don't how they live like that… not that they will be living like that soon." Taylor turns on the coms to Abel Township, "Abel Township, this is Jolly Alpha Five Niner from Mullins base, 5 miles out, approaching from the east brining med supplies, shelter and loan of one of our own. Jolly Alpha Five Niner, requesting permission to land."

"Got that, er…I mean Rodger that… you're clear too… yeah you can come in." A young and unsure voice replies through the head set

"Rodger that." Taylor turns to me with a grim look on her face, I continue to read hopefully she leaves me be… unlikely. "Level with me, you and I both know we don't have half the supplies, we've lied to the township!" I look up annoyed.

"Come on Tay, I'm told no more than you are."

"Yeah, I know, you don't know anything. Someone will come up to you at Abel and say I'm here to brief you on project green-shoot, then you will find out what your mission is about, I just… what the…?" gunshots ring out and I stand to look out and see where that is coming from, not seeing anything I head towards the back.

"Who the hell is shooting? That's not coming from the township! Who the hell has a rocket launcher in this area?" an explosion destroys the tail of the helicopter and I'm thrown towards the front of the chopper. "We're hit! I've lost the tail rotor!" Taylor connects to Abel as I pull on a parachute and pass one to her.

"May day, may day this is Jolly Alpha Five Niner, we are going down 3 miles out from Abel Township, 2 souls on board!"

"This is Abel township calling, supply copter you are coming down fast! Can you hear us? Open your shoots! Jump…jump!" I did just that, hoping that Taylor was getting out behind me. The back of the helicopter was on fire, taking no chances at being caught when the chopper hits the ground I jump.

The chopper was still high when we were hit, I pull the string to open the shoot once I am a safe distance from the burning helicopter, and thankfully it opens. In the background I hear the chopper hit the ground, hopping to god that Taylor got out, I focus on landing without breaking my leg. Over the coms I can hear the Abel township coms operator starting to panic.

"Hey, hey I uh… this is Abel township calling, if anyone is alive if you've got your parachute open, this is Sam Yao from Abel township… ohhh, I'm just a coms operator, I'm not meant to handle this stuff." I land thankfully without breaking anything, Sam however is not any happier, and my day just gets worse. "You've come down in a horde of zombies they've heard the noise, there is thirty, no… forty zombies. Your only safe path is towards the tower, if there is anyone alive, just run… Run!"

I unhook my parachute as fast as I can and look around for the tower that Sam spoke about, and needless to say, I do as the jittery coms communicator tells me to do… I run.

"Wow, there is someone alive down there, running! Hey, can you hear me?" Sam sounds relieved to see me on his screens moving, it was a good sign that he can see me.

"Yeah, I can hear you!" I reply through my headset, now was not the time for formality, and I'm sure he would forgive me if I didn't state my number or name.

"No answer, but still look at them go! Heading for the tower just as I said!" damn it, he can't hear me… not that it matters at the moment, he can see me and there for direct me away from the horde of zombies I can hear approaching me from behind.

"Okay! Running person! If you can hear me, well you're going great, the main group is behind you and you will soon be out of the forest soon… but there is a… well yeah… I can't think of anything that isn't a 'small army of zombies'… sorry don't do so well under massive pressure. Anyway there is one of those on the east side of those trees, if you change direction and head towards the old saw mills, you should be able to see the gigantic red signs now…" I change my course to head to the old saw mill that has ivy climbing up the sides of it and small piles of rocks surrounds the base of the building.

"Hey look at that, they are changing direction, just like I said! Okay… that means that we can bring you in safely." I sigh in relief, I can here mumbling on the other side of the line and Sam protesting against something that someone says, complaining that he shouldn't ask me to do something that I might be injured, and the voice argues back. The voice changes and it's a woman this time, Sam scoffs as she begins to talk.

"This is Doctor Myers, the only medic in Abel Township. Lord knows I'm sorry to ask but your route will pass by the old hospital, we know there are medical kits there from the first wave of infection, if you pick up even one or two that would be helpful…" Sam cuts over the top of Myers.

"It's too dangerous, you know what happened to runner 5!"

"The zoms have followed the noise of the crash"

"But what about the person who fired the rocket launcher?"

"If someone wants to kill that runner, taking an unusual path will make it harder not easier," Sam scoffs, "I hate to be hard headed, but everyone around here earns their keep, you should be able to see the Robison hospital, one of the building, Griffons tower, it's the tallest in the city. If you can't bring anything in, we might not be able to let you in."

I change my course to head towards the hospital, I have a bad feeling that comes with this. Hospital corridors are not known for their windows, any lighting comes from the lights in the celling, without anyone at power stations that isn't grey, no power runs these light leaving everything dark. When everything went dark it was one of the first things we learnt, don't go into hospitals alone, and without a flash light. If you did, well you most likely would never make it back out alive or at least unbitten. However, this woman wanted me to run into a hospital for medi kits, injured, covered in blood, unarmed and without a light. Might as well tell me that I can't come in at all, because I am going to die before I reach the gates of Abel.

"Ok, ok…man that great, your making good time, no broken legs I see. Hey listen, I'm going to call you runner 5, just cause… well I don't know your name, and we just lost a runner, in the same hospital you are running through now." Well that's good to know after I start running through the hospital, if I didn't want to be here before I sure as hell don't want to be here now.

"Oh, god I am going to die." Christening me as runner 5 than telling me she died in this same hospital feels like a bad case of déjà vu.

"Ah she was so fast really funny and cleaver… me and her we sort of… she was amazing… But hey you can be out new runner 5! if you make it back alive." That's just great, I'm replacing his dead girlfriend.

"Yeah, our runners are important to keep us going here, any fuel we have goes to running the generators and the truth is, if you have two legs and can go faster than a slow shamble you can outpace the zombies, am I right? Yeah ok… your pace is good, but maybe head through the ground floor of the hospital, there is a swarm gathering of zombies in the car park that I don't like the look of. Yeah… yeah, that's good. You can even pick up anything you pass, we think there may be some… well we sent the old runner there looking for some file, so if you see anything official looking pick it up and bring it home." As Sam is talking to me I walk through the dark corridors looking for any important looking document, all the while picking up medi kits.

After a few minutes I stumble across a CDC box. "Well, we can't get more official than the CDC in the middle of a zombie apocalypse." I pick it up and keep walking, obviously I walk into Sam's line of sight.

"Hey, there you are. I've got you on camera now, great to see you now… even though you are a little blurry. What that you are carrying? Look at this doc, runner 5 picked something in the hospital" I lifted the box up in hopes that they could get a better look at the CDC box

"Is that the centre of disease control file?" Myers sounded surprised at the discovery.

"What's that?" it surprises me that Sam was unaware about what the CDC was, or maybe he just was curious about the box

"Runner 5 I don't say this lightly, that box might be worth your life to protect. Don't drop it!"

"What is it?"

"It could be nothing it could be everything"

"So a pretty narrow window of definition" it was at this point that Sam started to sound annoyed at Myers vagueness over the situation.

"What that shadow over there?" Myers seemed oblivious to the annoyance in Sam's voice and placed concern in her voice aver the appearance of the shadow, Sam seemed to panic over the sight.

"Oh… oh no, this is what happened… this is what happened, when we sent her out! They are following you! The swarm from the car park they are following you, now run!" Behind me I could hear the groaning of as Sam called it 'a little swarm', however it didn't sound little. Picking up my pace I ran flat out in the general direction of Abel, hoping to god I was going in the right direction.

The zombies are right behind me, I'm getting tired. I can hear the moans right behind me, so much for Sam's 'if you can go above a slow shamble you can out pace them' theory.

"They are so fast, why are they so fast"? They never run, why are they running? Runner 5, runner 5, they are gaining on you!" Sam sounds panicked at the idea of the zombies running, and in reality he isn't wrong to be panicked about this. I am, hell I'm ready to cry.

"Runner 5, you are not far from the gates now if you keep going we can send some people with guns out to meet you. Only one zombie is close to reaching you, put on a burst of speed now!"

Myers comes across as the calm one in this situation, I put on the burst of speed at her request, but my legs are killing me, and I feel like I'm inhaling razors with every breath. I can hear Sam as he starts to speak. He sounds broken once he notices that it is his dead girlfriend who's undead, cold hand brushes against my arm as I slow, my body cries for a break.

"Oh go… it's her… I can see her… its Alice… the old runner 5, she's the one chasing you. Oh… she's still wearing her head set… she…" another voice cuts over the top of Sam's wavering one.

"Runner 5, its runner 7 her head of runners. The doctor told me you found some useful information at the hospital we are sending people out to meet you keep running as fast as you can. Don't look back she's right behind you."

I do just that, it becomes harder to breathe and keep my pace up as time goes on, thankfully the sound of guns echo around me along with the sounds of bodies hitting the ground. A man runs up to me carrying a gun while the people in front of me up on the fence continue to shot down the zombies.

"This way, run!" I run closer to the man in order to avoid the bullets whizzing past me, for some reason the zombified runner 5 has fallen back.

"They're going to shoot her, I can't watch, I don't want to…"

"It's what she wanted Sam, you know she wouldn't want to live like this…" Myers holds compassion in her voice as she attempts to console Sam.

"Run! We've got it covered!" I run closer to the township and notice for the first time that it was bigger than expected.

"Raise the gates, raise the gates!" Sam calls out, as the gates start to raise there is an irritating, yet beautiful wiring noise. Finally I cross over into the township and I'm instantly surrounded by people. People calling out for food and other items, others just curious as to who this new person is. I struggle to breath, the back pack feeling like 100tones on my back at the moment. The crowd parts as a tall man around my age with black hair and a head set on comes through.

"Hey good to see you in the flesh. The totally unbroken skin not bitten by zombies flesh I hope!" I nod my head not trusting my voice as I struggle to remain standing as Sam slips my bag off of my shoulders.

"Step back, step back, don't crowd. Runner 5 can't take in so many new faces right now." He shoos people away, and as the crowds begin to disperse I hear someone whisper "that's the one from Mullins base, the one they sent to help with project green-shot." I hold my breath and look around too quickly. My head suddenly feels too heavy, and my lungs deprived of oxygen. The world turns upside down and goes black.


	3. Distraction

"Raise the gates!" came Sam's voice over the head gear, the gates began the normal warning sounds drawing all nearby zombies directly to the main gate. Which really isn't the best of ideas despite the covering fire, it was still a hazard that was going to make the job harder… not that it needed to be much harder.

"Oh… oh that's not supposed to happen! The gates are stuck! Can every see the gates are stuck? Do we have an engineer?" Sam roars through the headset, sighing I stretch and get up off my designated cot, putting aside Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban that I borrowed from Jack and Eugene. Slipping my feet into my runners and lacing them up I move around the shared space that is for the runners, I brush my hair and pull it back into a pony tail knowing that in a second I will most likely be called to the gate being a new runner who hasn't been out on the field much these past few days, as I was leaving my shared space I sling the backpack that Sam gave to me on my second training mission. It was the old runner 5, Alice Dempsey… the person I was to replace.

"Runners this is an emergency the gates are stuck and we are open for attack, the following runners are to report the main gate immediately for lure and distract! Runners 2, 3, 5 8 go, go…go!" Runner 7 called over the loudspeakers, picking my speed up so I was jogging, almost at the gate I hear Sam address me over the intercom.

"Um… runner 5 we need you to go right now runner 5. We are pairing you up with runner 8."

"Yeah Sam, I'm on my now, be there in a sec." I reply back, as I reach the gate I see a runner dressed in a red shirt and black leggings with red sneakers, her blond hair was pulled back into a pony tail that reached the base of her neck. Runner 8 was easily a head taller than me, and was well built. As I approached runner 8 turned towards me and ended up coughing really hard, she holds out a hand for me to shake.

"Sorry about that. Hey there! I'm runner 8 Sarah Smith, how are you doing? Ready to head out and misdirect some zoms?" Sarah seemed very happy and bubbly, and over all very nice, I was looking forward to getting to know her better.

"Sure, why not?" I reply with the best smile I could muster at the thought of intentionally getting zombies to chase me, scared the ever living day lights out of me.

"No time for chit chat! Take one of the noise makers from the locker," I grab a strap with a red beacon on the back and hold it up.

"That's right strap it on your back, go out and run around distract the zombies while we fix the gate! Go… run!" Nodding to Sarah, I slip the beacon on my back and clipping it together I turn and run out the gates and into the open field littered with corpses in varying stages of decomposition. Sarah picks up her pace to match mine to switch on the beacon, and continues to run beside me.

We run for a few minutes until Abel is well and truly behind us. "Ok! Abel Township we are clear, nice steady pace. About 10 of the zoms on our tail. It's all going well. How you guys holding up?" looking back over my shoulder I can agree with Sarah's estimation. Roughly 10 zombies follow behind us, some are missing their internal organs after being ripped open, and others have lost limbs, eyes and their faces. Sarah, noticing my distraction of the zombies taps my arms and nods ahead as Sam starts to reply.

"Yeah not that so well here runner 8, we kind a… uh… motors are shot they are telling me up looks like something got in and chewed it up…" Sam replies confused, I understood why, something chewed it up?

"Chewed it up?" I ask perplexed at the situation. However, Sarah starts to cough and cuts off whatever Sam's reply was going to be.

"Sorry about that, bad chest cold, so do you guys want more time?"

"Yeah the longer you can keep the zoms away the better"

"Got that, we have a great da out here me and my buddy runner 5." Sarah begins to cough again, it doesn't sound good, I begin to worry about her.

"Yeah… that cough are you ok runner 8?"

"It's just a cough!"

"We just have to be careful that's all, you the drill first a cough then a rattle then a moan…"

"That's how you know the dead are walking, it's just a cough Sam." turning to me Sarah continues, "he always fussing about something. Hey Sam if bothers you so much I'm turning off my transmitter so you don't have to listen to my coughing."

"Oh no you don't that not hot how it works…" Sam sounds annoyed to the suggestion, however Sarah just reaches behinds me and switches off my head set as well as her own.

"There that's better now it's just you and me."

"Nothing good has ever come from that sentence." I reply back, wanting to switch my headset back on so I'm not alone. Sarah just laughs at my comment, and shakes her head as she runs ahead of me slightly. After a few minutes she speaks up again.

"So you came own in that chopper a copper a couple of days ago huh? Must have been pretty scary." she questions turning her head to look at me over her shoulder.

"Defiantly not at the top of list of thing to do again." I reply back, truthfully I was scared. Did someone want me dead? If so, why? Maybe they didn't want the supplies to make it to Abel Township, but why? With Sarah looking at me like I was a criminal, I was not going to ask.

"Seems like you were the only one to survive, at least we haven't seen any other survivors…" holding my gaze she turns slightly as groaning sounds behind me and I feel a hand brush against my arm.

"Duck down there a second honey." Sarah shoots the zombie whose hand brushed against my arm as we passed it, so lost in thought, I didn't even realise it. About to ask her, a – why she had a gun and b – if she thought I shot down the helicopter; she holds up her hand to stop the questions.

"There we go, we don't usually have guns. There's not enough to go around, but they like to try to help us out on decoy missions like this. Amazing how you turned up here, just dropped out of the sky after someone fired a rocket launcher at your helicopter. That's really strange isn't? I mean you were just brining in supplies. We have been in touch with the military base 100 miles north, they drop of meds and wet weather gear thing, so who would do a thing like that?" I shrug my shoulders, not trusting my voice, and not believing she would even believe me should I tell her about anything.

"Do you what I've been thinking? How do we even know you were that chopper at all? We haven't got any way to transmit pictures any more so we don't know what you would have looked like. Sure you turn up in the right uniform, but that could have been stripped from a body, you might not have been in the chopper at all, it could have been you the one who shot it down. Duck your head down just a second wouldn't want to hit you." I duck down my head and body just a bit to avoid the bullet shot from the gun.

"There got him that was a close one, better stay close." Sarah reaches behinds me to turn on my radio, after she had placed the gun back into her holster and turned on her own.

"Hey there Sam, were you worried about us? Just didn't want to irritate you with this cough that's all."

Never, ever, ever runner 8, runner 8? You know you never, ever turn your radio off… never do that Ok?" Sam sighed out frustrated, you could hear the chair squeak as he leaned back, obviously relieved to hear from us, Sarah turns to me and smirks.

"He gets lonely without us." She quipped, however Sam was in no mood to joke.

"I heard that, and it isn't about me, ok? It's about keeping you alive, 8 more have joined the pack chasing you, you're still ahead of them just keep going."

"We're heading west, we clear?" Sam groaned in response, a tell tail sign that I was quickly recognising as a 'no'.

"This is why you never ever turn off your radio, there is a swarm to the west and we think they've… oh yeah, here we go. They've heard you, that's zombies to your west, east and south."

"Huh, well time too…" Sarah's face started to break into a smile.

"Head north." Sam confirmed, Sarah just nodded and pointed into the direction we were heading.

"I've got a plan." Sarah looks to me and hums. I wanted to turn back in the direction of Abel, purely on the fact that I didn't approve of the mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Hey Sam it occurs to me that we really haven't shown 5 here the neighbourhood or the neighbours."

"You mean New Canton?" Sam's voice changed from annoyance to slightly anxious, Sarah merely rolled her eyes at Sam's antics before replying.

"I sure as heck don't mean the zombies"

"Oh I don't know, they might be great to have over for tea and crumpets." Sarah turns her head with a raised eyebrow and snorts in amusement to my quip. Sam, who is still annoyed and nervous about of direction zombie herding, doesn't laugh.

"Do we want to start a war with New Canton?"

"Just a little pay back Sam, don't you remember how they herded those zombies towards us when they were building new barracks?" this sounded like a great relationship, wanting to kill each other or cause a lot of grief; it was highly unusual. Most neighbouring settlements look after each other, or have a mutual understanding, they don't just herd zombies to each other out of spite.

"Uhhh, yeah…" And that is the 'let's not' portion of Sam's vocabulary that he doesn't out right say.

"If the major were here we would check with her, as it is new canton is to the north and our exit is to the north, you know it makes sense. Speed up, towards new canton."

With that prompt from Sarah we speed up to the great stone building that must be New Canton, it doesn't take long until we spot people wandering around the perimeter with guns.

"Stop! In the name of New Canton, not another step further!" A man's voice calls out to us over a speaker, Sarah just shakes her head and grabs my arm.

"There are zoms behind us, run!"

"Stop! Stop or we will shot to kill!" the man replied back lifting his gun, Sarah pushes me a little to the left.

"Keep going." We run for a little bit as gun shots ring across the plains hitting zombies that were shambling towards the guards.

"Township scum!" one of the guards that addressed us earlier yells through the speaker. I just turn and laugh at his annoyance. However, that doesn't last long as I see the pack that was following us stumble closer to the New Canton people. Sarah doesn't seem the bit fazed.

"Wahoo, well that's one way to take down to a bunch of zoms. Oh don't worry about new canton they have the fire power to deal with them, this means you and me are home free." She places the mic closer to her face before addressing Sam. "Hey Sam, how's the gate going?"

"Yeah nearly there, come on in if you aren't trailing a pack behind you." Sarah just hums before switching off the radio boxes again.

I guess this turned out to be a good time for a little chit chat than I hoped 5. Truth is I hoped to see if I could trust you, strange things have been happening around here. The major is called away on urgent business, someone brings down a chopper, firing from the middle of the zombie wilderness, and you turn up like a white knight, too damn convenient 5." Sarah reached behind me to turn the radio back on in time for Sam to exclaim.

"We got her working again, uhhh, welcome home runners, and great run. Not a single hostile anywhere near our gates!" Sam exhales in relief.

"Oh yeah, runner 5 and I make a great team, we will be going out together all the time right 5…" Sarah is interrupted by another coughing fit.

"Uh yeah, maybe not next time we have been getting been reports of a child stuck in no man's land. Get some rest runner 5, we will need you for a fast run again soon." I sigh and walk with Sarah, who is still coughing, to the hospital where Maxine examines us for bites.

Being in the all clear and Sarah still under the ever watchful eyes of Maxine, I leave to head to the rec room to complete my stretches and after that have a shower and get some food and a drink. Then I get to rest on my makeshift bed and try to finish reading my book.

 **A/N: So I noticed when I uploaded the 4** **th** **chapter that it was weird, so uploading this again to fix the issue… not that anyone noticed.**


	4. Lay of the Land

A few days after my run with Runner 8, Sarah Smith, I find myself standing in front of the gates, stretching my arms. A tall man wearing a blue jumper walks with a 7 drawn onto it, he stands beside me looking down. I give him a small smile and wave; he returns the gesture with a bit of confusion crossing his face. As we stand there waiting to be briefed on the mission I fiddle with the straps on my bag, the headset crackles to life and Sam's voice cuts across the quiet murmur that surrounds us.

"Raise the gates… Runner 5 ready… And go!" Sam calls out, we take off, jogging at a reasonable pace.

"Thanks, Sam, I'll take it from here." The runner 7 tells him.

"No problem Evan, I'll keep the comms link optional in case of trouble. Runner 5, 7 here is the head of runners!" Sam sounds hesitant to stop giving out orders to Evan and me but perks up when mentioning the 'head of runners'. Evan, however, isn't so keen on the title.

"That's not an office title Sam."

"Well unofficially." Evan just shakes his head and sighs.

"That's what you get for surviving longer than most of the others." He looks kind of sad at that but continues on all business like, "I'll be taking you on a quick tour around the base today and show you the main routes into the city; should be an easy run today!" I suppress a groan at that, Sam wasn't so calm at the mention of the run with zombies 'easy'.

"You know what happens when you say that!"

"Whatever happens, we'll handle it, we always handle it."

We ran down the road, heading away from Abel. There are zombies milling about, having no real interest in us, as we were away from most of them. Runner 7, looks over at me and frowns, knowing there is something on his mind. I go to ask what is wrong, but he beats me to it.

"We are sad to lose the old runner 5, but that's the reality of life here on the ground. We've spoken to Mullin's, the base you've come from, and they aren't willing to send another helo until we know who fired the rocket launcher at you, so this is your new home, you're the new runner 5 congratulations. They've told you nothing about us I suppose that's the way it seems to be up at Mullins base, send people in and take them out, don't talk about where you're going, don't let anyone get attached. That's not the way I would run it and it's not the way the major runs it here at Abel township. We take care of our people here and as long as you work hard … we'll take care of you." The zombies that were previously uninterested in us, change their mind and start to head for us. Evan looks over his shoulder and shakes his head, but chooses not to say anything.

"So you see we are circling clockwise around the township the bunker to your right, that's half the reason any of us are still here. Take a look at it, narrow slit windows built into the ground, we used it as an armoury now, but at the start of the outbreak, some of us spent 3 weeks hiding in there while the world went mad around us. Thank god for survivalists building well-supplied fallout shelters and to the owner of this place, she still lives here." Runner 7 points out the 'armoury' as we run around the base as he continues pointing out parts of the base.

"The other half the reason we're here is that building there in the centre of the compound, the old farm house, thick stone walls good high vantage points especially as it's on a hill, it's easy to see why any of us who know anything about tactics came here with just 5 rifles were fought off 300 of the walking dead within our first week here. We are under the command of Major de Santa, she had lost most of her people but managed to keep us going. That's how we managed to earn out place." Having no questions or anything to add, I just nod my head. However, by this point I was half listening to his rant on the way this are at Abel, I look to the trees to see if there are zombies nearby, but instead catch a white tag fluttering about in the soft breeze. Evan notices it as well, the tag and the zombie who decided that we would make a good meal, should he catch us.

"Hmmm, do you see that white fluttering thing in the tree? Just past the zombie lurching towards the pines. Might be nothing, in any case, it's a good target to run to. Never mind that zombie, if it gets too close our sniper on the roof will handle it, now go." We head down the hill a little bit before the package in the trees becomes easier to see, Evan holds his arm in front of me and points to the tree.

"Ahh I think I see what it is, Mullins said that you've been at the base almost since the start of the outbreak. It's a government drop; do you see that part hanging down? The green tab?" I notice to where he is pointing and I nod, a small green tag is fluttering in the wind, connected to larger white parcel nestled in the pine trees. Evan sees my nod and continues on instructing me on how to get it out of the tree.

"Pull it, it should come straight out of the trees. Ah, we've got company, our position between two large cities does mean we get a constant stream of the living dead. You should be able to do it, just put on a burst of speed now, and you should be able to get the government drop and outpace the zombie, don't stop. Run!" I run down the rest of the hill, straight past a zombie who is missing an arm and half his chest. Being 5" makes pulling the tab hard as the parcel is well above my arm reach, thankfully the tab isn't. I manage to grab and pull the tab successfully retrieving the package, I turn and run back to runner 7 with the package. As I slow to a stop I pull off one of the straps of my bag to place the parcel into it.

"That's good, I can see you will be a valuable asset to us at Abel township, we don't have bullets to waste on zombies, not unless we have to and we certainly don't have enough to shoot wide, so we rely on the runners. you will be well rewarded if you do a good job. Run along the main road here with me, I have something to show you."

"Here we can get the best view of the land, there are the major cities, we will probably send you in there for supplies, but never try to spend the night there... crawling with zombies. See that castle on the hill? That's New Canton, they're the biggest settlement of living humans within 100 miles, we think. For the most part, we don't talk to them, they don't talk to us, and that's how we all like it. See that burnt barns to the west? That used to be a little settlement called themselves Skoobs, mostly teenagers, they were about the size of Abel township. We don't know what happened to them, one day they were doing fine, swapping DVDs with our runners, growing their own marijuana and keeping chickens, then the next a burnt out shell… Probably a zombie attack caused a fire somehow. Right, another practice run lets outpace those zombies and head back to Abel."

As we are running back, Evan keeps looking at me as if to ask me a question, or to make a comment on something. I have a feeling I already know what it's about, I have seen the way the residents of Abel look at me, some with distrust. This is often reinforced by what runner 8 said to me on our run to distract the zombies. However, some of the looks of mistrust changed after that run.

"You know some people at Abel township were worried about taking you in runner 5, the rocket launcher attack spooked us all, of course, we didn't know that anyone in the sector had that sort of capability, and Mullins base haven't always been straight with us. Funny thing runner 5, just before Skoobs settlement was destroyed they had a man sent in from Mullins base arrived on a helo just like you, but without half the supplies they were expecting… strange." He looks at me from the corner of his eye, judging my reactions. I stiffen at the notion that people believe that I had something to do with the rocket launcher attack on the helicopter I was on. Unfortunately, zombies appeared before we had a chance to discuss what happened, "Right more zoms approaching from the east, time to head back to Abel. You've done well today runner 5, I expect we'll have a use for you soon."

As we came through the gates someone ran up to me and helped me remove the bag off of my shoulders so an inventory could be done on its contents. The run with Evan left me feeling much the same as the run with Sarah; more questions than answers.

 **A/N: Well that's that and no harm done, just to quote the Minister for Magic out of Harry Potter and he Prisoner of Azkaban. I know it took a long time, but university and the fact that this is one of the most boring of episodes and leaves practically no room for added dialogue. It's like 12:40 am in Australia as I'm posting this, but I'm moving onto examination period so I don't go to lectures and sit in the library all day any more. No, I just sit at home and procrastinate doing this. I plan to start the next chapter sometime today. But thank you to anyone who is still reading this.**

 **Good luck to everyone who is like me and is suffering through University or even just school, WE CAN DO IT! To everyone else YOU CAN DO IT!**


	5. A lost Child

The area surrounding the gates was a flurry of activity, it has been for days now. Runner 4, Jody, had brought a report that there was a child in no man's land; the open land between us, New Canton and the cities. Sam had gotten Jody to get me up and send me to the mess hall for breakfast while he sends out the other runners out for their missions while we wait on the conformation of me being sent out. Now with the confirmation that it is indeed a child that needs help, I'm standing in front of the gates waiting for Sam.

"Raise the gates! Runner Five ready… gates are open, covering fire, and… Go! We've had that report confirmed, Runner Five. There's a kid wandering in no man's land. You're heading right for it." I can hear the gates closing behind as the sound of the gate siren dying behind me while the sounds of the undead surround me.

"Sometimes happens that way, you know. Zom attacks, parent fights it off, gets bit, kills the zom, then abandons the kid and runs as far away as possible so they won't eat it when the turn; ugh. Kid zoms are the worst, though, aren't they?"

"Yeah, it's sad to see that they are left behind by the parents whether it's the parents or the child that get bitten," I reply back, thinking of the sound that my step-sister made over the phone when the outbreak hit Australia; Sam hums in agreement to my statement.

"Sometimes, in these scenarios, as you've said; the kid's been bitten too - watch yourself. But in this case, we think not. We've been monitoring for a few hours, and kids usually turn faster than adults - faster metabolism, everything works faster. I saw a kid once went zom in under five minutes - parents watching! That was grim." I hear the sound of the chair creaking as he shudders at the memory, he sighs once before changing the subject.

"So, hey, Runner Five - you've already made quite the name for yourself around here. Especially after leading those zoms past New Canton. We didn't expect to get a new runner so soon. Well, I knew someone would be coming in on that supply copter from the military base up north, but all they told me was that we'd be getting some more med kits, some extra shelters, with someone who knew how to put them up. Guess you were supposed to chopper in, show us how to build the shelters, chopper out, right? Guess your guys don't want to send another chopper for you, seeing what happened to the first one, eh? Bummer."

Sam laughs at his little joke, but I furrow my brows at the last part of the sentence. Doesn't Sam want me here? Did he wish that I would go back to Mullins? The thought hurt, I had hoped that after the all the training that I had to undertake, once with him training with me, we had become better friends. Well, friendly enough that he would consider me a friend. However, before I can question him on it, he continues on.

"We're still no nearer figuring out what happened there. Didn't come from New Canton, didn't come from us, obviously. Didn't come from the city. No one there but walking dead anyway, and the day they start to use rocket launchers, we'll all be in trouble. Seems like it might have come from the wilderness, kind of near where you're heading today? Anyway, you're doing great, yep, nice steady pace, all clear on the scanner up ahead, just… keep going." The thought of heading into an area where people had attempted to kill me before wasn't a pleasant idea, but was they trying to kill me? And if they were, why?

After running for some time, I could hear the faint sounds of a child crying. Sam, thankfully, let me know that I was indeed heading towards my destination.

"Alright… you're getting close to the kid now. I know the Major's always saying we haven't got enough space back at base, and every person has to pull their weight, and taking all comers is kinda how New Canton got into the trouble they're in now, but still - I'm glad everyone's on board with not letting children die from exposure. It's basic ground rules of human society, you know." Sam huffs out a quiet laugh.

"Hey… can you see that? There's some movement on the scanner, you should be able to see the kid any second now, I… I think they're heading towards you. A motorcycle was coming up behind me very quickly making me nervous that the person was going to hit me, the incoming vehicle was also making Sam nervous which wasn't helping.

"What's that? Aw, man, someone else incoming. Looks like they're coming up behind you, heading for the kid, too. If you don't hurry, they'll get there before you do! Run!"

As I started getting closer to the tree, the little girls crying became more hysterical and the bike was getting very close

"Go back where you came from! Give the kid to me!" the man on the bike shouted at me, I didn't turn to look at him as I needed to get the girl out of that tree and to safety.

"Okay, okay, I don't know what that guy wants, and he's practically on top of you, but you're still ahead, just… just put on a burst of speed now, and you'll find that kid, and then you grab it, and well, just keep running. I'll think of something."

"Ok, Sam!" I grabbed the little girl and did a sharp turn to try and slow the approaching bike and give me some more time to try and get away, and for Sam to come up with a brilliant idea; do note the sarcasm.

"Put that child down, leave her for me!"

"Uh… yeah? Keep running!"

"Put her down! Molly? Molly! It's okay, Daddy's here, don't worry, Molly, I'm going to take you home! Give her to me!" As the man calls out to the little girl I slow down and turn to look at him.

"Um… yeah… actually…" At Sam's hesitance, I stop completely, I turn slightly to the side to make it harder for the man to grab the girl. Noting my hesitation, the man raises his hands into the surrender position.

"My name's Ed. That's my daughter, Molly. I know you're just trying to help out, but if you pass her to me, we can go home. Come on, Molly, that's a good girl. See? I've got Mister Rabbit here for you. Here's Mister Rabbit!"

As the girl – Molly – calms down a bit and starts to laugh at the man, I relax a bit as I realise that he could be telling the truth. If the man is telling the truth, the little girl won't just be put in the nursery with the other orphans but will be with her dad. Sam thankfully was watching the monitors and gave us warning as the first zombies appeared

"Whatever heart-warming scene's going on there, guys, there, um… there are five zoms closing on you, better keep moving."

"I have been informed that there are zombies coming our way, don't know about you, but I would like to get home unbitten"

"Yeah, I see them. Alright, just pass her to me, then hop on the bike, and…" As I shift Molly around on my hip to make it easier to give her to Ed than the bike's motor stops, he turns the key multiple times before he turns to me and frowns. "Goddammit. Out of fuel. Okay, pass Molly to me and let's run!"

We run from the handful of shamblers that are following us for a few minutes. Molly is in Ed's arms babbling away oblivious to the fact that there were still zombies after us. Ed looks to me a few times hums and looks around mildly awkward, thinking of what to say.

"I've seen you guys before. Abel Township, huh?"

I nod, "Yeah that's us."

"Yeah… Becca always said we should join up with you guys. Hey, I don't want to abandon the bike, and I know a fuel dump is near here. If I take you there, will you help me carry some back? You can keep some for yourself. I guess like everyone else, you guys are interested in finding fuel?" again I nod remembering what Sam had told me before he had ever met me. As the saying goes, speak of the devil and he shall warn you of zombies approaching, he did.

"That's another three zoms on your tail. Keep up the pace!" I was about to reply to Sam to let him know that I had heard him, and was going to relay that information to Ed. Ed, however, had started to talk to me again.

"I guess you're wondering how Molly here… Aren't you a strong girl, Molly, eh? Strong and brave girl! I guess you're wondering how she ended up out here by herself. I can only guess myself. But me and Becca, we've been holed up in a farmhouse about eight miles from here. We… we've been okay, you know?" I nod to let him know that I was listening, as I didn't want to interrupt his story.

"I went out hunting, to bag us some birds, usually brought down two dozen pigeons in a day. Never stayed out overnight. But last week, damn, I got stupid. Made too much noise, didn't keep moving enough or something. Before I knew it, forty zoms were surrounding the farmhouse where I holed up to shoot. Not enough ammo - had to take each one down with a head shot! And then more came, and more, and more, like I'd stumbled into a nest. I was away for five nights, six days before I finally took down the last one and left." I nod again, this wasn't the first time I had heard a story like this. Although the person holed up usually isn't the one to survive, either bitten, starved or dehydration takes them.

"By the time I got back home, Becca must have thought I was already dead. She left a note for me saying… saying she was walking to Abel. And on the way I guess… well, she ran as far away from Molly as she could before she died. I guess that's the last thing she could do to protect our daughter." Ed strokes Molly's hair as he talks about Becca. Finally, he shakes his head and points to the ridge in front of us.

"Okay - fuel dump's just over the next ridge! We'll just pick up a couple of cans each, and head back to the bike. You know, the last time I was down here, I saw that some guys had set up camp not far away, new guys, hadn't seen 'em before, wearing some kind of blue uniform and… Just over here. They've left their rocket launcher!" I pale at the thought of finding the camp and rocket launcher that nearly killed me, and more than likely killed the pilot of the helicopter.

I pick up the rocket launcher and sling it across my back for safe keeping, making sure that it was on safety mode, of course, I'm not an idiot. Ed and I collect the fuel and start to return back to where we started, with Molly chatting the whole way back.

"Whoa! Yeah, I've got you on the cameras! You guys found fuel! You're just getting more and more popular around here, Five… uh… what the hell are you carrying there?

"Okay, Molly, it's all okay. We're nearly back at the bike. Guess those guys must have just dumped this launcher, huh? Weirdest thing. A thing like this is valuable! Even more so now than before. Can you take Molly? Just run with her while I fuel up the bike, just in case." I nod my head and hold my arms out to take Molly from Ed, and place her on my hip. Ed looks reluctant to hand her to me, but nods and continues on.

"Come back in a few, I'm sure I'll be fine."

It was a good time to leave as Zombies were coming towards us, I run a bit from Ed before whistling to draw them away from him.

After running for some minutes the zombies started gaining on Molly and me, the extra weight and bad positioning of her made it run. The downside to Molly being like two is that she is too small to ride piggy pack, even with my five-foot height. Thankfully, Ed decided that this would be a great time to appear on the motorbike wielding a tire iron.

"Hey, hey! Get away from that runner! I'll get them with the tire iron." I slow down as Ed pulls up beside me, "Got 'er working just fine. A Little drink was all she needed. So, um… I guess you guys at Abel Township will be using my fuel dump now, huh? And well, I'm not sure I want to go back home now that Becca's… well, we don't know what's happened. I guess she could be okay. I guess so. Anyhow, I expect you guys could use a decent mechanic over at Abel Township, yeah?"

"That guy just took out two zoms from the back of his motorbike! Tell him we'll take him in." Sam was more than enthusiastic to tell me that Ed was welcome in.

"Yeah, and Abel welcomes you," I smile, as I hand Molly back to Ed after he had removed the rocket launcher from my back and strapped it to the bike.

"Okay. I've got the launcher strapped on nice at the back, and the extra fuel cans, and Molly riding up front with me. Hey there, Miss Molly! But I don't think there's room for… well, I guess you're gonna have to run!" He gives me a sheepish smile before turning the bike back on and heads towards Abel.

When I finally make it back to Abel Ed, Molly, Sam and Janine meet me at the gates. Janine is wearing her famous scowl, with that look her face neither Ed or Sam are willing to look at her or even stand near her.

"Runner Five, come with me please."

 **A/N: Wow that took a long time to upload sorry guys. I've been busy with University and now with YouTube. Yeah, I have joined YouTube, my channels name is Kaerunningthroughlife if you want to check it out :D**

 **Thank you for reading, big thank you to ZRtranscripts for saving my life on the larger missions. It's just so much to type! I swear that I know the first three missions like the back of my hand.**


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